Grunion
Ballast Point Brewing Company in San Diego, California, United States 🇺🇸
Pale Ale - American Style / APA Rotating|
Score
7.15
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American Pale Ale with Calypso and Mosaic hops. Made by Doug Pominville.
Our Grunion Pale Ale wasn’t born on a beach, but in a backyard. Originating from an employee-only home brew contest, this award-winning hoppy pale ale is named after the tiny local fish known for late night frolics on shore. A pair of new hop varieties lend strong yet balanced summer melon aromas and herbal flavors, while a soft caramel malt sweetness holds it all together.
Our Grunion Pale Ale wasn’t born on a beach, but in a backyard. Originating from an employee-only home brew contest, this award-winning hoppy pale ale is named after the tiny local fish known for late night frolics on shore. A pair of new hop varieties lend strong yet balanced summer melon aromas and herbal flavors, while a soft caramel malt sweetness holds it all together.
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6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle pour into nonic pint glass from One Stop Market, Haverhill, MA. Aroma is VERY strong piney, resinous over floral hops, light corn chip. Appearance is mild hazy golden yellow with trace sparkle, 1/2 finger-width white foamy head with trace leggy lacing. Taste is as aroma, strong flavor of piney/resinous bitter. Palate is medium bodied with thin texture and average carbonation, dry crisp finish. Overall, not surprising coming from this brewer, this leans heavily to the hoppy side. Would have liked to have seen more balance but it’s not a bitter hoppy bomb.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Jan 2016
at 15:04
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
12 ounce can into pint glass, canned on 11/4/2015. Pours slightly hazy orange/amber color with a 2 finger fairly dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Spotty foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big pineapple, peach, tangerine, grapefruit, mango, melon, passion fruit, berry, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, pine, light caramel, toasted bread, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of bright citrus/tropical/earthy hops and light-moderate bready malt notes; with good strength. Taste of big pineapple, peach, tangerine, grapefruit, mango, melon, passion fruit, berry, lemon zest, orange peel, light pepper, pine, light caramel, toasted bread, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Moderate pine/herbal/spicy bitterness; with lingering notes of pineapple, peach, tangerine, grapefruit, mango, melon, passion fruit, berry, lemon/orange peel, light pepper, pine, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Damn nice complexity, robustness, and balance of bright citrus/tropical/earthy hops and light-moderate bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Moderate dryness from bitterness as well. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, crisp, moderately sticky, and slightly creamy/bready balanced mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden with zero warming present after the finish. Overall this is an excellent pale ale! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of bright citrus/tropical/earthy hops and light-moderate bready malt flavors; and very smooth and crisp to drink. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Can
on 23 Jan 2016
at 20:43
6.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle at Pub Winston. Golden color, good cloudy head, lace. Strong fruity aroma: citrus and pineapple juice. Medium-bodied. Flavor is not so intensive as aroma. Pineapple, citrus and pale malts. Interesting beer, fresh sample from tap would be nice even I am not so fond of this kind of fruityness.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Jan 2016
at 11:13
6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 4
Overall 7
Refrigerated 12 oz. brown bottle poured into an English Pint glass. Clear golden with small white head. Aroma is pretty nice herbal hops, medium/light body, lower carbonation, and pretty good small-bubble lacing. Taste is herbal hops and bitter finish. Just get a sculpin.
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Jan 2016
at 21:15
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Imported from my RateBeer account as Ballast Point Grunion Pale Ale (by Ballast Point Brewing Company (Kings & Convicts)):
Aroma: 9/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 17/20, MyTotalScore: 4.1/5
5/I/16 - 12Fl. Oz. can @ home - BB: n/a (2016-7) Thanks to Anthony for sharing the can!
Clear orange beer, aery big yellow head, little stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: sweet and fruity, caramel malts, some tropical fruits. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, caramel, fruity, bitter, nice resinous, pineapple, passion fruit. Aftertaste: bitter, grassy, some citrus, fruity, caramel, sweet malts.
Aroma: 9/10, Appearance: 4/5, Taste: 8/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 17/20, MyTotalScore: 4.1/5
5/I/16 - 12Fl. Oz. can @ home - BB: n/a (2016-7) Thanks to Anthony for sharing the can!
Clear orange beer, aery big yellow head, little stable, adhesive, leaving a nice lacing in the glass. Aroma: sweet and fruity, caramel malts, some tropical fruits. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, caramel, fruity, bitter, nice resinous, pineapple, passion fruit. Aftertaste: bitter, grassy, some citrus, fruity, caramel, sweet malts.
Tried
from Can
on 05 Jan 2016
at 15:07
8/10
Tried
on 26 Dec 2015
at 16:40
7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
330ml can drunk on the train. Bucketloads of juicy grapefruit, mango and pineapple. Good bittersweet character. Great train beer.
Tried
from Can
on 17 Dec 2015
at 10:10
7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
12 oz bottle from a six pack. Didn’t realize this went out of date until I left the store. Bottled in March. Yikes. Aroma is citrusy, earthy, light age. Pours hazy orange gold with lots of particulates floating around underneath a medium off-white head with decent retention. Mildly bitter, citrusy flavor. Not bad at all, even if it’s almost six months out of date.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Dec 2015
at 22:52
7/10
Awesome melon
Tried
on 27 Nov 2015
at 15:09
7.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Tap at MGM Tap Bar, 10th November 15. This was served way too cold, with ice floaters, any way the aroma was citrus bitter hops, grapefruit. Taste was tropical fruit, grapefruit. Really good pale
Tried
from Draft
on 12 Nov 2015
at 07:56